Snow Leopard caught by Infrared camera first time in Siguniang Mountain Area

The National Nature Reserve Management Bureau of Siguniang Mountain in Xiaojin County of Aba Prefecture said that on November 17, a staff of the reserve found a group of photos and video of snow leopards when he was cleaning the infrared camera installed in Haizigou, one of the three famous valleys for hiking in Siguniang Mountain.

The photos were taken at 03:11 on August 23, 19:22 on August 30, 8:18 on September 6 and 23:49 on September 18. All belong to a single male snow leopard. In video, the snow leopard makes several patrols of its territory, sniffing and leaving scent marks in front of the camera for more than a minute.

According to a person in charge of the nature reserve, snow leopards had only been spotted in the reserve, but never before have they been recorded in photos or video. This is the first time that a wild snow leopard has been recorded on Mount Four sisters. What's more, the camera also captured a rare picture of the main peak of the mountain, Yaomeier Peak (the youngest sister). According to the distribution statistics of snow leopards around the world, the number of snow leopards in China ranks the first in the world, accounting for about 40% of the total number. They are mainly distributed in Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Gansu providence. The northwest of Sichuan is one of its active areas. The photo of a snow leopard on mount Siguniang also shows that the reserve has a high-altitude environment suitable for snow leopards. (photo/video: provided by the administration of Siguniang shan national nature reserve)
 
Source: 李海啸 . (n.d.). 四姑娘山幺妹峰与野生雪豹同框 成年雄性雪豹巡视领地. Retrieved from http://henan.china.com.cn/tech/2019-11/18/content_40963539.html